Even after NHL teams committed over $600 million in contracts on the opening day of free agency, there was still plenty of money left to spend for those willing to jump in.

On Saturday, the Florida Panthers signed defenseman Jason Demers to a $22.5 million, five-year deal as they continued to overhaul their blue line. Florida isn’t afraid to spend this offseason, as it showed in locking up top defenseman Aaron Ekblad on a $60 million, eight-year extension and trading for and signing Keith Yandle to a $44.45 million, seven-year contract.

Demers was drafted in the seventh round by the Sharks in 2008 and has 28 goals and 115 assists in 423 games over 5½ seasons with the Sharks and the last year and a half with Dallas.

While others have hesitated to shell out long-term, big-money free agent deals, new Panthers general manager Tom Rowe has taken an aggressive approach with his group in win-soon mode. The Panthers made the playoffs and have what Rowe called the best group of young forwards in the league, led by Aleksander Barkov, Nick Bjugstad and Jonathan Huberdeau.

Demers said it was a “no-brainer” for him to sign with the Panthers.

“I want to go somewhere where I have a chance to win,” Demers said on a conference call Saturday. “They’ve got a lot of young talent, and we can be very competitive for a lot of years. They’ve been building toward this the past two or three years. It’s an exciting time to be in Florida right now.”

Being right at the start of a Stanley Cup window made the Panthers spenders. Top Cup contenders such as the defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins, Chicago Blackhawks and Washington Capitals have made low-budget tweaks early in free agency, while the New York Islanders, Boston Bruins, Buffalo Sabres and Edmonton Oilers went for it.

Islanders: New York agreed to a one-year deal with Pierre-Alexander Parenteau, bringing the veteran right wing back for a second stint with the team. Parenteau had 20 goals and 21 assists for Toronto last season. His goals matched his high set in 2010-11, his first season with the Islanders. Parenteau had career highs of 49 assists and 67 points with the Islanders the following season. Parenteau is the Islanders’ third addition in the first two days of free agency. New York signed forwards Andrew Ladd and Jason Chimera on Friday, while losing Kyle Okposo (Buffalo), Frans Nielsen (Detroit) and Matt Martin (Toronto). Restricted free-agent Shane Prince was also re-signed to a two-year deal.

Sabres: Buffalo has agreed to sign goalie Anders Nilsson to a one-year, $1 million contract after acquiring his rights in a trade with St. Louis. The Sabres gave up a 2017 fifth-round draft pick to the Blues in announcing the trade Saturday. Nilsson had a 10-13-3 record and 3.12 goals-against average in 29 games split between the Blues and Edmonton last season. Overall, the Swedish-born player has a 19-22-4 record in 52 games, including two seasons with the Islanders.